No on Measure 56: Double-majority protects my rights

All public and publicly owned businesses and companies, including congress and state legislative bodies require a minimum number of member be present in order to do business. The reason for this is simple; it prevents a small group from doing things that the majority of the people do not want.

Democracy is a participatory process that requires the participation of "an informed electorate" to work. It does not work when the rules are made by the few rather than the many. For that reason Measure 56 is inherently undemocratic.

Every since 1996 when the double majority rule was past there have those who tried to take away the protection of requiring involvement of at least half of the people. They claim that voter indifference has prevented schools from receiving needed funding simply because less than half of the voters chose to vote.

Personally I vote on every issue THAT I UNDERSTAND. When anyone asks me to vote on an issue it is their responsibility to provide me with the information I need to cast my vote. I believe this is common with all voters.

"Yes, it does make it more difficult" was Supreme Court Justice Douglas' response to a question about a court ruling that required certain individual protections now known as the Miranda Law. And yes, the double majority requirement does make it more difficult to get things done. But as Justice Douglas emphasized, " The burden should always be on the proponent to insure that the rights of individuals are protected".

Despite the claims that voter apathy has denied schools what they needed, the records show that more than 86% of school funding issues have been approved. I know of no school that has been closed for lack of funding, nor has there been anything to indicate that the school system in general is in greater financial trouble than the rest of the state.

I think that funding our schools via property taxes is wrong. It places a burden on many elderly people who are financially stressed. But that is another issue. However, to open the door to every small energetic group to permit them to impose the cost of their pet projects on property owners is simply wrong.

But the double majority protection applies not only to schools. It protected my neighbors and me from an aggressive annexation attempt in 2004 by a city with a roughly 8 times the number of voters in my area. Without that protection the voting would have been a mockery and one small piece of democracy would have died.

Measure 56 is wrong. It attacks the very basis of our democracy and removes a valuable protection we all need, especially now with the financial turmoil and the uncertainty we all face.